 Balsam was a tourist stop on the Murphy Branch of the Western North Carolina Railroad, later the Southern Railway.In the early 20th century, tourists would travel from Asheville to the train depot at Balsam and stay at just up the hill at the Balsam Mountain Inn.Today, the depot no longer stands at the original site but was moved up the ridge, in the 1960s, to a private location and the original siding sees little use by the Norfolk Southern Railway.